Section 31 - A Bereaved Meeting
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Set after Balance of Terror, Angela Martine, who lost her fiance, Robert Tomlinson, who was killed during the battle with the Romulans is actually an undercover operative of Section 31, and during a stopover at a Starbase, she has a meeting. Part one of a series of oneshots.


Disclaimer - I don't own Star Trek, in any incarnation. I just had this idea in my mind for a while. Please enjoy.

Section 31 - A Bereaved Meeting.

She walked slowly towards the interfaith chapel located at the Star base - Enterprise had suffered severe damage thanks to the battle with the Romulan vessel, and Starfleet also wanted answers and the crew debriefed about the battle. She herself hadn't been spared from the probing questions, but like many of the crew she had only been carrying out her duty. Her posting in the Phaser control room had given her a good position, but not enough; she wasn't as close to the action as the bridge officers and Dr. McCoy had been.

She didn't really care about the questions they'd been asked, but since the debriefings were still ongoing while the Star Base engineers were working with the engineering detail on Enterprise she had the perfect opportunity to slip away from her friends, and come down to the planet.

All of her friends had left her alone since Robert's death, but she had told them she just wanted to grieve on her own for a bit before she opened up again, and she'd told them she had simply wanted to come down to the base to spend some time in the interfaith chapel to get a change of venue.

But if they knew what she was really doing, then they would be concerned and even astonished.

Robert's death had hit her hard because she had genuinely loved him, her relationship with him hadn't been manipulated or even coerced - the organisation didn't frown on their members having relationships or having families, but she would be expected to keep her mouth shut about what she did, well she had been prepared for that.

When she walked into the chapel she found a seat and sat down and waited patiently, but it was probable that her contact was already here; she had sent the message for a meeting shortly after the Enterprise had destroyed the Romulan ship when it was announced they'd be dropping off at the base for repairs and debriefs - the Neutral Zone treaty was something Starfleet command took extremely seriously, and because the Enterprise had proof of the Romulans' breach of the treaty - the destruction of the outposts, the sensor information, the Enterprise's recordings of the battle, not to mention that clip of the interior of the ship where the Romulans were a clear off shoot of the Vulcans, jungle drums were rumbling at what had happened throughout Federation space and the Federation council were going to want to know all the facts from Kirk and the others before they tried looking for a diplomatic solution to the problem.

She snorted quietly to herself at the word diplomatic. The problem with Starfleet and the Federation was they believed every problem could be solved with diplomacy, and while that was true it could also cause other problems while not truly solving the problem at hand.

Treaties were just agreements which always came with loopholes which could be exploited, or they could be ignored. It was that simple.

But even when the Neutral Zone had been set up after the war that had happened a century before, the Federation and Starfleet had not taken any chances, they had set up those outposts to monitor the Romulans' and it had worked as far as Starfleetwas concerned, but now she had her doubts.

The Romulan ship that had attacked the Enterprise had a cloaking device, it could become invisible. Who was to say that the Romulans' hadn't been sending ships like that into Federation space for years? Since she had been briefed on a good number of the secrets the organisation had kept a lid on for years since Jonathan Archer's days as Captain of the NX-01, she knew the Romulans' had had cloaking devices for years, but it had been kept quiet in order to keep the ultra secret research facilities which had been tasked with developing a similar technology for Starfleet, and weapons the organisation had been developing in case another Romulan war began, it was a good idea to keep it quiet.

If they were discovered by anyone it would be a disaster. The organisation didn't really care about treaty violations or pathetic wimpy diplomatic breaches, but they did care about their privacy.

She stiffened when she sensed someone moving behind her.

"I am sorry for your loss." It was another woman speaking, but she kept her eyes fixed ahead - she had been an agent long enough to know it wasn't a good idea to know who you were talking too. "Everyone else says told me to say they're sorry as well."

She was silent for a second, wondering if her visitor was telling the truth before she decided it didn't make any difference. If she was lying then she didn't care, but if she was telling the truth then it was something to be grateful for.

"Thank you," she murmured, then she reached into her jacket and pulled out a plastic wallet and handed it to the woman, who took it from her.

"Is this everything you have about the Romulans?" The woman asked, but she didn't bother opening the wallet.

"Yeah, but there isn't much - Spock and the other officers were able to take detailed scans of the Romulan ship, which are included in the wallet, but there is nothing more than that. If the Romulans' had survived and let us on their ship, I could have gathered more. My position in the Phaser Control room doesn't officially give me any authorisation to access sensitive data, but thanks to 31 clearance I can hack into the computers as easily as walking."

She sensed the other woman nodding. Their organisation had a lot to thank and curse the Romulan Star Empire for. When the NX-01 Enterprise and the later ships had been sent out, the organisation had been placing operatives onboard Starfleet ships to determine who the neighbours nearby were - Earth had already had dealings with the Vulcans and the Denobulans, but as Archer explored the nearby sectors around Earth, the organisation was able to open detailed files on races like the Klingons, the Andorians, the Xindi, and the Tellarites.

And they also covered things up - the business with the Temporal Cold War, for instance. She didn't understand the logic behind the decision personally, but it didn't matter as much as when Enterprise had encountered those cybernetic aliens that were purported to come from the future.

But the organisation had pushed Starfleet into exploration even after the War of the 22nd century.

The Romulan War had allowed the organisation to truly flex its muscles, and with their help new technologies derived from alien technologies were opened up, and the organisation had gotten its hands on cloaking technology, and had started researching ways of improving the technology and the weapons taken during the war. In a way it was similar to how the organisation had begun developing bioweapons to use against the Xindi in case they decided to resume their plans to wipe out humanity, even without the influence of those trans-dimensional aliens.

For instance, access to Andorian technology during the NX-01's trip in the Expanse had given the operatives there a detailed idea of how the technology worked long before the Federation was even formed and technology was exchanged by the founding members. The Xindi biotechnology had opened the doors to more advanced medical research techniques, and the weapon builder Degra's imparting of the energy cells, and the design of the weapon itself which would have destroyed Earth had led to more powerful phasers. Coridan warp technology had been investigated and studied, and integrated with Trip Tucker's files on warp design to build better engines. Surely people didn't just think it was because of Starfleet having one source of warp technological development?

But unfortunately many in Starfleet openly said the war had been costly, and believed exploration shouldn't be worth so much death and destruction, but the organisation had worked long and hard into driving Starfleet back into the stars, building on their research for bigger, more powerful ships. In some ways they did want more conflict, because it allowed the organisation to flex its muscles in preparation for the next one. The original organisation had been dedicated to protecting United Earth, but in the future it had grown to encompass the Federation, while preparing for the next one. The next big enemy. The next big war - the cybernetic creatures for instance were still out there, they knew about Earth, about the races in the Alpha Quadrant. They weren't likely to vanish because Earth had decided to stop exploring the universe.

Starfleet was sometimes so naive and innocent, it was not funny. They went in with hands outstretched in friendship while more than aware the next race they encountered on a daily basis could be hostile.

Every single ship carried one or more agents - she was sure she wasn't the only operative on Enterprise though she didn't know them, and she was certain that this woman wasn't alone either. With her 31 membership she had access to the computers on Enterprise, and unless Spock and Uhura were truly paranoid, she would never be detected.

"What's happening back home?"

"The incident is certainly making headlines in the media, and the Federation council have been in session for days - they've been reviewing the information the debriefings of the Enterprise crew, and its virtually non-stop."

She frowned. "What….diplomatic measures are they going to take?"

"We don't know," the woman answered, which made her frown for a second, knowing it was a white lie, though whether she had her own ideas or she had enough seniority in the organisation to know what was going on, she didn't know and frankly did not care.

"I hope they don't make anymore mistakes," she said instead.

"The Neutral Zone, you mean?"

"Yes. How are they taking the news the Romulans are related to the Vulcans?"

The other woman snorted. "How did the Enterprise crew take it? I know there's a Vulcan on Enterprise."

"Half Vulcan," she corrected instantly. "One member of the crew vented his spleen for losing a few members of his family on him."

"Its the same everywhere," the other woman replied. "Families who've lost someone during the war are lashing out at Vulcans, but nothing major is happening."

She nodded, deciding it didn't matter. "What are my orders?"

"Do you still want to stay on Enterprise?"

She paused at the question. She hadn't really given it much thought, Robert's death had been a blow but she didn't know and didn't care if her leaving the crew now would be seen as suspicious or not.

"I think I'll stay for now, and perhaps transfer later," she replied at last.

"Very well, I'll let the others know. Thank you, Agent Martine."

The woman stood up and walked away, leaving Angela Martine behind.


End file.
